Pages

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Batman (Infinite Heroes)

Why did I buy that toy?

Because he's the goddamn Batman.

Even if you don't get that well-worn Internet meme, you have to understand that Batman is one of the most ubiquitous pop culture figures ever, and like any right-thinking fan of comics/film/animation/stories were criminals get the crap kicked out of them, I like the Batman character a hell of a lot. And with a character as iconic as Batman, you got a source for literally hundreds of different takes on the character in action figure form. However, there have been surprisingly few plain Batman figures to choose from over the years, so getting straightforward basic Batman in a new scale is a treat. And even though most of the initial images of the Infinite Heroes line that I saw left me cold, I knew I had to at least get that Batman figure, which looked excellent.

Any regrets?

Sure it's the same basic body shared by who knows how many Infinite Heroes figures (I for one already possessed it in the form of DCIH Captain Marvel), but the tooling makes it looks like this figure was what the mold was originally intended for. Comparing Batman and Captain Marvel, Batman just looks so much better, and not at all like an awkward mish-mash of accoutrements, unlike the other figure. Still, like other figures that share this body, his hands are a tad oversized; it's not really noticable if you have him in a punching pose, but if his arms are just hanging down it does look awkward.

The biggest problem is the cape. I don't mind that it's molded plastic; I like how it looks. However, the lower edges are swept back, and this plus the weight of the cape make it hard to stand the figure. I want my Batman to be imposing, and he can't really do that if he's staring at pennies on the floor so he doesn't tip face-forward.

Also, this is just a minor problem with my figure, but there's a little grey showing through at the neck that's supposed to be black to match the glued-on cape. It's not glaring, but I hope this isn't a problem with most figures.

Am I happy with my purchase?

God yes. Yeah, I knew going in that the figure looks great, but I didn't realize how much having a 3.75" scale Batman would excite me. I've had this for about a month, and I still pick it up randomly throughout the day just to mess around it. Having a Batman that is the same size as my Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Indiana Jones figures is five kinds of awesome. You can bet I already tried putting the figure in a Hasbro Jedi Starfighter (it looks cool, but the cape keeps it from fitting inside the cockpit perfectly). Even without the scale benefits, the figure is just fun to mess around with, with decent, useful articulation and great sculpting that makes it look cool in just about any pose. If you pick up an Infinite Heroes figure and don't have a character preference, this should be the first one you get.